Following last week’s announcement, the Economy Secretary and the Lifelong Learning Minister, who Chairs the Valleys Taskforce, met representatives of Blaenau Gwent Council and the Chair of the Ebbw Vale Enterprise Zone Board to begin discussions on the plans.

Economy Secretary Ken Skates said:

“I am delighted to be in Blaenau Gwent today to discuss plans for our new technology park which has the potential to create over 1500 new, full-time jobs and support economic development across the wider heads of the valleys region.

“I realise that last week’s decision not underwrite the Circuit of Wales racetrack was disappointing for many people locally, however the evidence indicated that the main benefit for the local economy would have been created not by the circuit itself, but by separate businesses, particularly in the engineering and automotive sectors clustering together.

“That is why we have committed £100m over 10 years to support this project which will begin with delivery of a 40,000 sq feet manufacturing space on land currently in public ownership.

“I felt it was important that I made time to come to Blaenau Gwent today to begin early discussions with local partners and to reinforce to people living in the area that the Welsh Government is fully committed to making this new automotive technology park a success.

“We are keen to get to work on this right away and I will be convening a roundtable event locally in the coming weeks with a wider range of stakeholders and private sector partners to discuss our plans in more detail.”